Brazil threatens to take claims of U.S. spying to the U.N.

Brazil said Wednesday that it may go to the United Nations over US spying, which it said was not only used to combat terrorism, but also for industrial espionage.

“We are not satisfied with the explanations presented” by US Secretary of State John Kerry during a visit Tuesday, Communications Minister Paulo Bernardo told a congressional panel.

“Consequently, we will bring the case to international organizations, probably the United Nations.”

American officials have defended the espionage programs as entirely lawful measures that have helped foil dozens of terror attacks globally.

But Bernardo voiced skepticism, saying the programs were not “just to combat terrorism. They (also) involved industrial, trade and diplomatic espionage.”

Kerry met with Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff and other top officials and sought to reassure them after media reports of widespread US spying based on documents leaked by the rogue intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

The top US diplomat said Brazil was “owed answers with respect to those questions and will get them.”

Kerry suggested that electronic snooping by the National Security Agency (NSA), whom Snowden had worked for, aimed to provide “security, not just for Americans, but for Brazilians and the people of the world.”